Research Paper

Leptopus longipedicellatus, a new species of Leptopus (Phyllanthaceae) from Guangxi Province, China

Wen-Bin Xu, Shou-Jun Zhang, Hua-Fei Cen, Jun He, Gang Yao

Published on: 14 August 2025

Page: 599 - 605

DOI: 10.6165/tai.2025.70.599

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    Abstract

    Leptopus longipedicellatus, a new species of Phyllanthaceae from Guangxi Province, China, is described. Results from phylogenetic analyses of the nuclear ribosomal intergeneric transcribed spacer (nrITS) and plastid marker matK showed that the new species has a close relationship with L. fangdingianus, L. malipoensis and L. pachyphyllus, and it might be the sister of L. pachyphyllus, another endemic species to Guangxi Province. Morphologically, the new species could be distinguished from all other species of Leptopus by its long pedicels of female flowers and fruits, which are 3.0‒4.5 cm in length. Additionally, the new species further differs from L. pachyphyllus by its narrower sepals of male flowers (1.2‒1.5 mm wide vs. 2.5‒3.0 mm wide) that are yellow-white to slightly green in color (vs. reddish), petals of male flowers subequal to the sepals in length (vs. about 1/2 to the sepals in length), filaments of stamens 3.0‒4.0 mm long (vs. ca. 1.6 mm long), smaller sepals of female flowers (3.0‒4.0 × 1.1‒1.6 mm vs. 5‒6 mm × ca. 4.0 mm), disc in female flowers shallowly bilobed for ca. 1/5 of length (vs. deeply bilobed for 1/3‒1/2 of length).

    Keyword: Karst environment, Leptopus, Leptopus pachyphyllus, Poranthereae, Phyllanthaceae, Taxonomy

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